North Carolina Bill Adds Fee For Hybrid Owners, Raises Fee For Electric Car Owners

It may soon cost more to own a hybrid vehicle in North Carolina. 

A Senate committee approved a bill Wednesday that mandates an annual registration fee for owners of hybrid cars and trucks. The idea is to offset gas taxes owners are saving when their vehicles are running on battery power.

The News and Observer reports Senate Bill 446 also more than doubles a registration fee that owners of fully electric vehicles already pay in lieu of gas taxes.

The bill is being co-sponsored by Republican Senators Jim Davis and Tom McInnis, who head the transportation and transportation appropriations committees. Davis told committee members the bill is “intended to bring parity so that everybody is contributing their fair share to the gas tax revenue.”

Some committee members have questioned the size of the fees, arguing they might discourage people from buying hybrid and electric vehicles.

North Carolina would become the 9th state to charge hybrid owners a fee, which along with the fee on electric vehicles would be the highest in the nation.